Texas Heating Assistance: CEAP

Q: What is heating assistance called in Texas?

Texas runs the federal program as Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP), administered by Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. 18 different program names appear across the states compiled here, which is why a search for the federal acronym often misses the page a household in Texas actually needs.

Q: Does Texas also stop a utility disconnecting heat in winter?

Public Utility Commission of Texas sets a separate rule on that, and its short form is: At or below 32F. In several states the two are linked, because receiving assistance is itself what switches the disconnection protection on. The winter shutoff page for Texas carries the rule.

Q: Is heating assistance in Texas a state program or a federal one?

Both, in the way that matters to a household. The money is a federal block grant; Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs decides what it is called, when it opens, who is eligible and what it pays. Across the states compiled here that produces 18 program names and 8 different opening months, so the answer is a state answer even though the funding is federal.

Q: Where does Texas publish its own heating assistance rules?

On Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP), Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, which is the page every figure here was read from. Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs is the agency to go back to when a date or a threshold changes, because a state can move either between program years.

CEAP

What it is called here

Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP)

Ask locally

The season

Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs publishes no fixed opening date

150%

The income limit

of federal poverty level

Not separate

Crisis component

the one application covers an emergency

The answer

Heating assistance in Texas, in one screen

CEAP

Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP)

Run by: Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs
The season: Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs publishes no fixed opening date for the season.
The income test: The test is 150 percent of the federal poverty income guidelines, measured against the federal poverty level, so the qualifying figure is the same in every state that uses it and moves only with household size.
How to apply: Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs takes applications local provider organization and by phone.
By phone: 877-399-8939

Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP), Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs

The Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP) is a utility assistance program. CEAP is designed to assist low income households in meeting their immediate energy needs and to encourage consumers to control energy costs for years to come through energy education. The CEAP involves integration of all LIHEAP-funded programs, thereby enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of services provided to clients and eliminating duplication of services. The CEAP is administered through subrecipients, which collectively cover all 254 counties of the state.

Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP), Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

TDHCA does not pay households directly; it funds local subrecipient organizations that cover all 254 counties and those organizations pay the utility bill assistance.

Who qualifies

The CEAP income test in Texas

The test is 150 percent of the federal poverty income guidelines, measured against the federal poverty level, so the qualifying figure is the same in every state that uses it and moves only with household size.

Income is counted gross rather than after tax, and the household is everyone living at the address rather than everyone on the lease. Most states count the last thirty days or the last twelve months, not last year’s tax return, which means a household whose hours were cut in October can qualify in November on a year that looks too high on paper. Apply and let the agency do the arithmetic rather than ruling yourself out.

Program Year 2026 Federal Poverty Income Guidelines (FPIG) (Effective January 26, 2026) Eligibility is calculated for: CEAP at 150% of FPIG

Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP), Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

The other half

Whether Texas also stops the utility disconnecting

At or below 32F

The two are separate: a heating grant is money and a shutoff rule is a restriction on the company. In several states an approved grant application is itself what satisfies the filing the shutoff rule asks for, which makes applying worth doing even for a household that thinks the grant will not cover much. The full rule, with Public Utility Commission of Texas’s own words, is on the Texas winter shutoff page.

Next winter

Making the house cheaper to heat in Texas

Texas runs Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). It pays for the insulation and the air sealing rather than the bill, which is the only part of this that lowers next winter as well as this one.

TDHCA operates the Weatherization Assistance Program with funds from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). WAP is designed to help low income customers control their energy costs through installation of weatherization materials and education.

Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) in Texas

In most states a household approved for the heating grant is automatically income eligible for weatherization, so the same paperwork does both. The waiting list is usually long and the work is usually free, which is a combination worth joining early rather than in the week it is needed.

Texas heating assistance questions

What is heating assistance called in Texas?

When can a household apply for heating assistance in Texas?

What is the income limit for CEAP in Texas?

The test is 150 percent of the federal poverty income guidelines, measured against the federal poverty level, so the qualifying figure is the same in every state that uses it and moves only with household size. Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs puts it this way: "Program Year 2026 Federal Poverty Income Guidelines (FPIG) (Effective January 26, 2026) Eligibility is calculated for: CEAP at 150% of FPIG"

How does a household apply in Texas?

Does Texas also stop a utility disconnecting heat in winter?

Is there help making the house cheaper to heat in Texas?

Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs runs Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which is the companion to the bill payment side. Its own words: "TDHCA operates the Weatherization Assistance Program with funds from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). WAP is designed to help low income customers control their energy costs through installation of weatherization materials and education."

Is heating assistance in Texas a state program or a federal one?

Where does Texas publish its own heating assistance rules?

Icicles hanging in a row from the eaves of a low brick apartment building against a clear blue sky, with a balcony rail at the right edge — A renter whose heat is bundled into the rent can still qualify in most states, and is among the least likely to apply. Where a state sets its income test against the federal poverty level rather than state median income, the line can sit twenty points apart for the same household. “Icicles on the eaves of a house in Quebec City”, Wilfredor, CC0

Heating assistance in other states

Texas winter shutoff rulesWhether Texas bars a winter disconnection, and what a household has to do.Winter shutoff rules by stateWhether a window, a forecast or a filing decides it where you live.Heating oil and propane pricesWhat the fuel costs this week in the states that report it.Firewood cutting permitsWhere a permit lets a household cut its own firewood.Heating assistance in every stateThe program names, the opening dates and the income tests side by side.

Texas read September 23, 2026 from Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program (CEAP), Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, linked above. Opening dates, income limits and benefit amounts are set each program year and the agency can change them mid season, so the page linked above is the one that governs. Every state is on the heating assistance hub.